Intermap completed 3D map data collection for Western Europe

Intermap Technologies today announced that it has completed the data collection of its NEXTMap Europe 3D mapping program. The self-funded initiative to collect approximately 2.2 million km2 across Europe began with Great Britain in 2003, continued with Germany in 2006, and was completed last month.

The NEXTMap Europe datasets include 18 Western European countries, including Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, the Netherlands, Portugal, San Marino, Spain, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. “The processing of the data is underway and is scheduled to be fully completed by March 31, 2009”, said Intermap. However, the German dataset is already available and Intermap signed several contracts with customers in Germany last year.

“The NEXTMap Europe program will generate national datasets at unprecedented accuracy and detail that include 3D digital terrain models and digital surface models containing more than 80 billion elevation measurements”, stated Intermap. In addition, the datasets include black and white and color orthorectified radar images containing over 1.3 trillion pixels each. The Company is also creating contours, 3D road centerline geometries, and other high-resolution geospatial products as part of the program.

Technology
Intermap’s elevation and imaging data is generated by a radar technology called Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (IFSAR). These radars are mounted on several aircraft operated by Intermap. Height information is obtained in a single-pass mode by using the phase difference between two coherent SAR images, simultaneously obtained by two antennae on the same platform. Then, Intermap processes raw radar data collected by airborne IFSAR to create 3D map products.